


beat up car.

by lexorcist



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: (Eventually Domestic Boyfriends I Promise Oh My God), Alternate Universe, Domestic Boyfriends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Drama, M/M, On the Run, Running Away, Secret Relationship, Strained Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:27:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21740938
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lexorcist/pseuds/lexorcist
Summary: In which Steve and Billy have been found out, they are on the run, and they simply can't be found. [Deviates btwn S2 & S3]. [TW: Mentions of child abuse, themes of familial/parental homophobia (irt: 1980s dads being terrible)]. [This was a Tumblr prompt that has simply taken on a life of its own; I have no control now, don't look at me].
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington
Comments: 2
Kudos: 36





	beat up car.

**Author's Note:**

> This began as a little collab with a sweet anon on Tumblr (read here: https://biillyhargroves.tumblr.com/post/189263977760/steve-and-billy-have-this-unspoken-rule-that) and that anon was super encourage when I tossed about the idea of expanding it. So, here he are.

Steve and Billy have this unspoken rule that whenever one of them is feeling some sort of way, they can pick the other up, no matter what time of day it is, and go for a drive. Usually it's Billy driving Steve around because he NEEDS to get out of his house, away from the monster that lives a room over from him. Steve makes special tapes to play during Billy's drives, because it fills the charged silence, silence that neither of them want to break by talking.

But one night, at like 3 am, Billy wakes up to a soft knocking at his window. Even with his sleep deprived brain, he knows who’s there. He grabs his jacket and quietly sneaks out the backdoor, the only way to avoid walking in front of Neil’s room. He slides into the passenger seat of the BMW silently because this has never happened before. It’s never been Steve driving. All he can do is grab his hand and slip in the tape he made for Steve. “Where do you want to go?”

Steve doesn’t say anything. Billy doesn’t push him. He wants to. God, he wants to, because Steve is _never_ this quiet for this long and it’s actually, genuinely, seriously scaring Billy. What is going on? Billy needs to know, but Steve never presses him, never makes Billy talk when he doesn’t want to or isn’t ready to, so Billy bites his tongue to extend the favor. 

They drive for a while. They drive until Billy doesn’t recognize where they are. They drive until the highway gives way to a bunch of cornfields and then they drive some more and Steve is _silent_. Dead fucking silent. The tape has almost run out by the time they finally stop.

“They know,” Steve says. Billy thinks he knows what he means, but he pretends that he doesn’t. He pretends that his heart isn’t sinking into his gut. He lets himself think, for the most fleeting moment, that _this isn’t fucking happening_ , but then Steve says, “My parents know about us.” and then it’s real. Billy asks how he knows and Steve tells him that he overheard them arguing. “I thought it was the usual bullshit,” Steve says, “but they were fighting about me.” He goes on to tell Billy about how his dad had heard them sneaking into the house late after a party last weekend, that he’d been watching Steve like a hawk ever since and that Steve hadn’t even noticed. He gets so worked up that he slams his hands against the steering wheel. _They’d been so fucking careful_. “I don’t know if they know it’s you,” he admits. “I mean, they’ve never met you, but-”

“Small town,” Billy finishes, and Steve agrees. Hawkins is the smallest town in America, or at least it feels that way, and they’re lucky they’ve gone this far without being caught. The kids have been sworn to secrecy. Max plays defense when she has to. Billy and Steve are good at hiding. Or, at least, they thought they were. 

Now, it’s Billy’s turn to be really quiet for a really long time. He can feel Steve watching him, but he doesn’t know what to say. He can’t tear his mind away from the derailed train of his thoughts. _He’s going to kill me_ , Billy realizes. His dad is going to fucking kill him, and he thinks it’s really true. If Neil doesn’t kill him, he’s certainly going to throw Billy out. And what will Billy do then? He’s doing the mental math already, counting up the savings he’d planned to use to go _home,_ back to California. He’s only ever saved enough for himself; he hadn’t anticipated _Steve Harrington_ , and he certainly hadn’t anticipated getting so very attached to someone who might actually stick around. He is thinking about how to divvy up the money, wondering how much they’ll have if they combine it with the Scoops Ahoy paychecks Billy has seen stashed in Steve’s bedroom, when Steve grabs his hand. 

“I’m sorry,” he tells him, and Billy tells him not to be, because this isn’t Steve’s fault. They should have known. They should have known this would happen. It was inevitable, wasn’t it? They couldn’t hide forever. Billy gets quiet again, already thinking about where they might run to. They surely can’t stay in Hawkins, and California is too lofty a dream for two teenage boys to muster on the fly. Is Indianapolis too close to be safe? Should they flee to Chicago? How far can they drive before they run out of gas? The worse thought that flits across his mind is the doubt that Steve will even want to run with him. Maybe he brought Billy here to break up. Maybe he’s been so quiet because he’s been trying to figure out how to do it, what words to say to get Billy to fuck off and leave him alone. Hadn’t Billy been the one flirting? Hadn’t he started this? Maybe Billy shouldn’t be factoring in Steve’s money; maybe he’s really on his own. He wonders, then, how long he can live out of his car before a cop shuts him down.

“Hey,” Steve says, and Billy abandons his thoughts just long enough to look at him. “I’m not gonna let anything happen to you,” Steve tells him, and then he clarifies, “To _us_.” 

Us. That word rings in Billy’s head and soothes his restless fears. Steve touches Billy’s cheek and Billy curses himself when he feels like he might cry, because now is not the time to cry. But Steve is looking at him and his eyes are soft and apologetic and, God, there’s so much love in them that Billy thinks he might melt on the spot. And Steve’s fingers are still on his cheek and that touch feels so gentle, so sure, so secure. And Steve said _us_.

“Okay?” Steve asks him, and Billy nods his head. It’s not really okay. He knows this. Things are about to change, and in a big way. They have a lot to figure out and not a lot of time to do it. But Steve is here, and he said us, and maybe that means that even though things aren’t good right, they will be. They’ll be okay. The two of them, together, will make this okay.


End file.
